Battling beetle pests: A comprehensive guide for effective management of okra flea beetle using chemicals

Abstract

A randomized block field experiment was conducted to study the management of flea beetle, Podagrica bowringi (Baly.) infesting okra, using several insecticides. This experiment was conducted in Vegetable science farm, College of Horticulture, Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli. The okra variety, Mahyco Hybrid 10 was sown in the field during kharif 2022. A randomized block design (RBD) was constructed with eight treatments and three replications. The treatments used were thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 g/l, deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 0.9 ml/l, cypermethrin 25EC @ 0.5 ml/l, emamectin benzoate 5% SG @ 0.4 g/l, imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.2 ml/l, lambda cyhalothrin 5 EC @ 0.6 ml/l and quinalphos 25EC @ 1 ml/l. The treatments were sprayed twice with an interval of 15 days in between. Data on the mean number of shot holes were taken at 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days after spraying. Results obtained at the end of both sprays, revealed that imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.2 ml/l performed well than all other treatments followed by thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.5 g/l and lambda cyhalothrin 5EC @ 0.6 ml/l. The least effective treatment among them was cypermethrin 25EC @ 0.5 ml/l which recorded least number of shots just above the untreated plots.